Jeff, speaking for human resources, gave data on the district’s hiring and retention. He reported 79 regular positions posted in the previous year, with an average of 10.2 applicants per posting and a range from 1 to 52 applicants depending on role. Certified positions totaled 30 postings with an average of 14.6 applicants.

"We had 94 and a half is our retention rate with District 99 compared to 89 and a half at the state level," Jeff said, noting the district remains above the state average. He outlined recruitment strategies—job fairs, use of the Red Rover posting system, third-party aggregators such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter, and targeted outreach to diverse candidate pools including some HBCU outreach efforts.

Jeff described the candidate pipeline: a video interview stage, two rounds of in-person interviews (often narrowing from a larger first-round group), performance tasks for finalists and required FBI and Illinois State Police fingerprint background checks. For certified new teachers, the district requires a formal mentoring assignment for the first year.

Board members asked about diversity recruitment (HBCU outreach), whether mentoring is optional, and retention variation across roles; Jeff said paraprofessionals likely have higher turnover and that the certified-teacher mentor is a required year-one component.

No hiring decisions were made at this meeting; the report was informational.